I have been listening and reading alot of OSHO's stuff. And I am just curious what people think about his style of teaching. It almost seems like he doesn't claim to be buddhist...but certainly his teachings/lectures touch very much so on meditation and the benefits of it. Anyone have any opinion or good links to share as a resource for him?

In a word, rambling. I never got the sense I was getting instruction, but instead was getting told a story.

"And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.

"And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.- Sedaka Sutta [SN 47.19]

It is said that Osho's teachings are mostly based on the Buddha, Krishna and many other saints. I have read his books, and they are entertaining, but I could never understand how his teachings are in any way compatible to that of the Buddha.

I never liked his teachings especially his neglect of Sila, and his emphasis that mind will be prepared for renunciation and enlightenment only after we have enough of sensual pleasures and experiences.

Last edited by SamKR on Sat Aug 04, 2012 2:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

He turns his mind away from those phenomena, and having done so, inclines his mind to the property of deathlessness: 'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.' (Jhana Sutta - Thanissaro Bhikkhu translation)

The fact that he owned dozens of Rolls-Royces kind of turned me against him. The aggressive and belligerent attitude of one of his chief lieutenants, Sheila, turned me off as well. He was quite controversial back in the eighties. I guess I sided with the people who gave him a thumbs down as a legitimate guru.

I guess I jumped to a conclusion and wrote him off as a fraud, a somewhat or highly delusional person trying to sell himself as enlightened. Maybe I jumped to the wrong conclusion. It's all the same to me. Take him or leave him. You'll be alright.

Bhikkhus, if you develop and make much this one thing, it invariably leads to weariness, cessation, appeasement, realization and extinction. What is it? It is recollecting the Enlightened One. If this single thing is recollected and made much, it invariably leads to weariness, cessation, appeasement, realization and extinction.Anguttara-Nikaya: Ekanipata: Ekadhammapali: PañhamavaggaVSMVMMWBBTBHTWTBTMy Page

He turns his mind away from those phenomena, and having done so, inclines his mind to the property of deathlessness: 'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.' (Jhana Sutta - Thanissaro Bhikkhu translation)

Osho and his teachings have been brought up a number of times over the years. Some seem to think his philosophy is harmful or potentially harmful while others find him helpful.

If it helps you on your spiritual path and helps you be a better person, then I can't really find fault in it. However, I do think it wise to not confuse the kind of new-age spirituality that Osho promotes for authentic Buddhist teachings.

Personally, I think one would benefit a lot more by just following the Buddhist teachings and not muddying the waters with any new-age guru stuff. That's just my 2 cents.

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." -- C. S. Lewis

I did not know all this info. ALthough i did the wiki pedia search and did not know he was at the center of so much controversy. All this stuff, not withstanding, many of his lectures have very wonderful things to offer. Such a great mind . Too bad his legacy is marred with all this other stuff. I really like his delivery.

I was actually in India when he died. Interestingly, the Indians in and around Poona thought of him as a shallow fraud and held him beneath contempt.I read a couple of books attributed to Rajneesh in the days before I discovered the Dhamma and after I began practicing my interest in Rajneesh vanished.kind regards,

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725